


The Red Runaway

by Crowlows19



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 13:15:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4393337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowlows19/pseuds/Crowlows19
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fifteen years old, with a stolen M-ship, and a too big Ravager coat, Peter Jason Quill has come home to Terra. Unfortunately for him, he’s got quite a few people on his tail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Red Runaway

Yondu had given him the M-ship not very long ago. A mere three day cycles after he had the codes to the Milano he had snuck out of his bedroom, past the sleeping Captain and his first mate, and had flown away towards Terra. It had been years since he was home and the sight of Terra-of Earth-filled his eyes with tears and a longing so powerful that his heart felt like it was being squeezed in his chest.  


He loved the Ravagers, loved being one, loved knowing them but as much as they had come to mean something to him they would never replace Earth. They would never replace home and Meredith, the mother he’d never been able to say goodbye to. But that goodbye was now in his grasp.  


00000  


He didn’t actually know where they had buried Meredith so he had done the next best thing. He had landed the Milano in the parking lot outside of his favorite diner, the one Grandpa always took him to, and ordered a chocolate milkshake from a very frightened woman. The waitress had given him his chocolate milkshake, which he drank with pure pleasure, and had proceeded to call the police. However, it wasn’t the police who had come.  


The man wore a dark coat very reminiscent of Yondu’s but this man had dark skin instead of blue. He sat down at the counter next to Quill who had moved on to his next milkshake, this one strawberry, and asked for soda pop. Peter smiled in greeting and the man gave him a curious look.  


“Where do you come from?” he asked.  


“From down the road,” he replied, truthfully, relishing the surprise on this man’s face. “Who are you?”  


“Agent Nick Fury. I’m with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division.”  


“You should shorten that,” Peter said, with a look on his face that showed he thought the name ridiculous. “The bad guy will get away by the time you’re done shoutin’ that at him.”  


“I usually don’t bother with the name until they’re already handcuffed to my interrogation table,” Fury told him, probably to try to rattle him. Peter had been raised by Yondu, Kraglin, and a bunch of other space pirates. It would take more than a threat of handcuffs to rattle him. He slurped at his milkshake.  


“Where did you get the spaceship?” Fury continued.  


“From the Captain,” Peter replied, his tone making it plain that he thought Fury should have been able to know this from the get-go.  


“Who is the Captain?” Fury asked. “I know quite a few.”  


“Yondu Udonta,” Peter supplied with a shrug. “You’ll probably meet him soon. He’s gonna be so pissed at me.”  


“Why? Did you steal the ship?”  


“Sorta,” he said with another shrug. “It’s mine when I’m older but until then it technically belongs to the Ravagers.” Fury cocked his bald head. “Yondu’s army of space pirates. They stole me from the hospital when my mama died.”  


“What’s your name?” Fury asked, pulling out a pad of paper and a BIC pen.  


“Peter Jason Quill,” he recited. “I’m fifteen now. Been gone a little while.”  


“Hmmm,” Fury hummed, kind of like Kraglin did when he was working and Peter was trying to get his attention. He pulled at the sleeve of his Ravager coat. Kraglin had given it to him after Yondu gave him the codes to the Milano. It was too big for him but Kraglin said that was on purpose. He was supposed to grow into it. “You said they kidnapped you.”  


“Ye’sir,” Peter mumbled around his straw. “Stole me from right in front of the hospital. I’m surprised no one saw it. They came in the big ship and there was a lot of lights and noises and stuff. They beamed me abroad, like in Star Trek. I landed on my knees which really hurt because of the metal and the first alien I saw was the Captain. He’s got a mouth full of fangs and he huffs and puffs a lot but he’s not a total ass. Not all of the time at least.”  


Peter smiled fondly at the thought of that first meeting with Yondu.  


“Was so afraid I kicked the guy in the ‘nads,” Peter said and Fury gave him an indulgent smile. “Yondu complained about it for months. Kraglin eventually got super annoyed with him and told him to shut up about his blue balls or Kraglin would make sure he had blue balls. Horuz had to explain what was so funny about that.”  


“So Yondu and Kraglin are a couple?” Fury asked, still taking notes. Peter didn’t much care about spilling ship secrets. Everyone knew that Terrans could barely get to their own moon. Telling Fury anything would likely never leave his spy organization with it’s super complicated name Peter had never heard before.  


“Sort of,” the teen replied. “Centaurians don’t really couple like we do or even like Xandarians which is what Kraglin is. Krag said they’re really, really instinctual but even they had a mating system. It’s got a lot to do with food and hunting and crap. They go off a lot to hunt together. And have sex. Yondu likes having sex in the woods which is information I really didn’t ask for.”  


Peter had a look on his face that all kids got when they were confronted with the fact that their parents or caregivers were sexual beings. It gave Fury an idea.  


“Do these two take care of you?” he asked and Peter nodded without hesitating.  


“Oh yeah,” he said. “Yondu’s a real mothering type. Everyone’s always surprised when they see him at it. For some reason, everyone thinks it’s supposed to be Kraglin who gets all mother hen-like. Although Kraglin’s the one who hugs the most. And he’ll cuddle with anything and anyone.”  


This was not exactly the information Fury needed to know.  


“Why did you leave them?”  


“Wanted to say goodbye to my mom,” Peter said. “But I didn’t know where they buried her so I came here and waited for the law to show. You can take me to her grave.”  


He seemed awfully sure that Fury would take him to his mom’s grave. Fury wasn’t entirely sure if it was prudent to do so. At least, not at this juncture.  


“I suppose I could,” he said.  


“Oh no, you definitely will.”  


“And how can you be so sure?” he asked, genuinely curious.  


“Because you’ll need special codes if you want your government scientists to be able to take apart the Milano and study it or whatever you want them to do. It’s shielded you know. Human tech won’t break into it and even if you did you’d do a bunch of damage. It’s easier to just do what I want you to do in exchange for the codes.”  


Fury was impressed.  


This was a very sneaky boy. He’d have to keep that in mind moving forward.  


“And what else do you want? Besides the location of your mother?”  


“A cheeseburger for starters.”  


Peter gave him a cheeky grin which was meant to disguise a very assessing look. Fury didn’t fall for it but he did play along and pull out his wallet.  


00000  


Peter spent the next few days in a government safe house with Fury and a bunch of guys whose names were as monotonous as their grey suits. He kept up a constant stream of chatter about his kidnapping, his life with the Ravagers, and all of the worlds he’d seen. Fury was very interested in all of these stories and, more often than not, he let Peter chatter away without much direction.  


In his most private moments, when he was in bed or in the shower (the only two places he was given relative privacy) he thought about Yondu and Kraglin. The two men were the closest things he had to parents these days and he had left them the second he’d been able. He wondered what that said about him. Would they think he’d been planning this all along? Would they think it hadn’t been difficult?  


It had been an almost spur of the moment decision. He had been homesick for Terra for years, something he had never hidden but he had never expressed a desire to actually return, to go back. But one night he’d looked up from washing his hands, caught his own gaze in the mirror, and remembered that he had his mother’s eyes. And he had never said goodbye. He hadn’t bothered trying to get permission. He knew that Yondu wouldn’t deviate their course unless there was something in it for him and there was nothing on Terra worth much of anything to Yondu. At least, there hadn’t been until Peter had landed.  


Peter was smart enough to know how to manipulate Yondu’s Centaurian instincts for his own benefit. Yondu was a nesting kind of creature and he got very upset (and violent) when something disrupted that nesting. He would send someone for him and he was almost entirely certain that person would be Kraglin. The first mate may claim him as his kid but Peter knew that Kraglin was the one who would be least likely to sympathize with his decision to say goodbye. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about Peter, he did and Peter knew it, he was just a very jagged man. He was all bony limbs, scars, and glares even in private.  


Even Yondu could get mushy. Someone had beat that out of Kraglin a long time ago. Yondu said it was Kraglin’s dad. Kraglin could be cold but when Peter wanted a hug he could always get a hug even if it was on the flight deck, something he couldn’t do with Yondu who would make a big fuss about authority and respect and blah, blah, blah.  


It wasn’t lost on Peter that there were a lot caveats when it came to his parents. He wondered if it would always be this complicated between them. Peter had a feeling if he kept stealing from them, it probably would be.  


00000  


After a few weeks, Peter was getting rather bored with Fury and he could tell that Fury was getting frustrated with him.  


“It’s time you gave up the codes,” Fury told him.  


“I want to see my mama first,” Peter insisted. He was curled up in a chair, using his Ravager coat as a blanket and doing his best to seem as if the many armed agents weren't bothering him. They were of course. He had come to the conclusion that this detour to Terra might actually have been a very bad idea. He wondered if he had miscalculated and that Yondu wouldn’t come looking for him at all.  


00000  


After much go around, Fury finally relented. Two dozen pink roses were handed to him and he was pointed to the gravesite of his long dead mother. Laying the roses down, he avoided eye contact with the words on the stone. He knelt down and ran his hand through the grass. There was very little in the wide galaxy that could remind him of Terran grass.  


He wept.  


And couldn’t help but think of what his parents would do if they were there with him. Kraglin would put his arm around him. Yondu would uncomfortably lay a hand on his arm. The Captain had never been very good with tears. The thought actually helped him get a hold on himself. He wiped his eyes and stood back up.  


“Bye, Mama,” he said, laid a hand on the top of the stone, took a deep breath, and walked away.  


00000  


He showed Fury’s scientists how to get into the Milano and then gave them a full tour. They were very impressed with the alien tech, taking photos of everything, asking questions, and cautiously poking at surfaces.  


“Wanna go for a fly?” Peter asked, taking a seat behind the controls and eyeing Fury with a cheeky smile. The man raised an eyebrow clearly unamused with the underlying dare in Peter’s tone.  


“How fast does this thing go?” one of the scientists asked. Peter shrugged but gave her the same answer Yondu had given him. The alien number meant absolutely nothing to any of the Terrans. He turned back around and began turning on the ship. He didn’t have any intention of removing it from the military warehouse it was currently stored in but even without moving it the scientists were extremely interested. He showed them how to use the controls, the guns he had, and he explained about the kind of damage they could do.  


“This is a general blaster,” he said. “Low power for the most part but capable of plenty enough damage in civilian settings or in low-shielded spacecraft. This one is the high powered blaster. We use those to break through the hulls of certain military craft and highly guarded transports.”  


He would have continued to explain about the weapons on board as well as but there was a sudden sound coming from the control board.  


“No!” Peter exclaimed. “Crap, crap, crap!”  


“What’s happening?” Fury asked sending the scientists scattering from the ship with just a gesture.  


“It’s the transponder!” Peter said, panicked. He leapt up from the control panel and ran from the ship, Fury hot on his heels, still trying to get answers. “I don’t have the override codes for that!” He made it outside just as two different M-ships appeared above the warehouse, circling like giant, metal birds of prey. Military units were scrambling, jeeps were squealing to a halt, and everyone was either gaping at the M-Ships or pointing a weapon at it.  


Peter whirled around to look at Fury and screamed, “Tell them not to shoot! Trust me, you don’t want to get in a fight with these people!” The man started to talk frantically in his walkie-talkie. Peter turned his face back towards the sky and watched as a very familiar ship stopped to hover above him, nose pointed towards the ground, guns ready. He was too far away to see their exact expressions but he knew immediately that Yondu was at the control panel and Kraglin was right beside him. There was no telling who was in the other M-Ship.  


The ship slowly descended and landed in the field outside the warehouse. No one opened fire but their weapons were still aimed. When the ship opened and Kraglin descended to the ground, Peter gulped, and stepped sideways to stand behind the corner of a jeep. No sooner had Kraglin cleared the ship than it took off and began circling with the other one. Fury walked forward.  


“Hello!” he said, sounding surprisingly welcoming. “How can I help you?” Kraglin tilted his head, a gesture Peter knew meant he didn’t understand the language. He gathered his courage and stepped out from his hiding place. He was the only one who spoke both Common and English. He translated in a flat tone, trying not to sound as if he was scared.  


“You are in so much trouble,” Kraglin hissed, ignoring Fury’s greeting.  


“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.  


“Tell this man we’re here for what’s ours,” Kraglin ordered and Peter complied.  


“Meaning?” Fury asked.  


“He means me and the ship,” Peter told him. Kraglin rested a hand on Peter’s shoulder and squeezed gently. Peter immediately relaxed which was exactly Kraglin’s plan. Once his shoulders lost most of their tension, he felt Kraglin shove him forward a little and he marched him towards the ship. Fury commanded the soldiers to let them through and Peter managed to wave good-bye before his M-Ship was shut and he was pushed in a seat, Kraglin forcing the safety belts around him.  


00000  


“Ow! Kraglin!”  


Peter tried and failed to pull his ear out of the man’s grasp. He wasn’t released until they reached their joint quarters. He was deposited at the table across from Yondu and he folded his arms with a scowl.  


“Knock it off, Peter,” Yondu snapped, his voice alternating between a low growl and somewhat human. It was his ‘You’re in a lot of trouble’ tone and Peter had seen new recruits and seasoned veterans alike scamper at the mere whisper of this tone. Peter ignored it completely.  


“Peter,” Kraglin said, crouching next to the chair so that were eye-level. He placed a hand on the boy’s arm. “What were you doing on Terra?”  


“Sayin’ good-bye to my mom,” he mumbled. “Someone kidnapped me before the funeral.” Yondu rolled his eyes.  


“Why didn’t you say anything about it before you left?” Kraglin asked. Peter shrugged.  


“Peter,” Yondu snapped.  


“It’s not like I planned it,” he said, a little bit of whine in his voice. If he played his cards rights, he would potentially get off with minimal punishment. Unfortunately, that was when Yondu started in on a lecture so long that the Captain had to yell at him twice, once to pay attention and once to wake him up.  


“Understand?” the man finally said and Peter nodded gratefully.  


“Yes, sir.”  


“Go to bed.”  


00000  


Peter tossed and turned for a couple of hours, listening to the hum of the ship around him, and tried desperately to fall asleep. Finally he sighed and sat up. Getting out of bed, he padded across the room to the door and slipped into the outer room where Yondu and Kraglin had their bed. Neither man was asleep and Yondu eyed him as he walked towards the bed and climbed over him. He accidentally kneed him and the Captain grunted.  


“Really, Peter?” he growled. “You haven’t inconvenienced us enough already?”  


“Shut up, Yondu,” Peter replied, more out of habit than anything else. Despite Yondu’s words, the blue man helped get him under the blankets and gave him his extra pillow. The one Peter always used when he had to sleep near them. He hadn’t done this in years since his nightmares had mostly stopped, but Yondu didn’t question it further.  


He settled down between them, warm and comfortable for the first time since he’d left. Cuddled up next to Kraglin, he was asleep within minutes.  


He was home.


End file.
